Christmas time is for many people the time of the year that is very peaceful and enjoyable with good food, good company and presents. But that is not the case for all of the children who are loanable for childless couples in the short story “Noel”.
The thought-provoking story was written in 1985 by Michaels Plemmons.The author tries to put focus on the social problem, objectifying children through child trading and how some children are treated as items. It’s a theme that was very actual at the time the short story was written.
The story is told by a third person narrator with an omniscient point of view. Just from the start of the story the narrator knows what the characters are named, “Mrs. Hathaway brought the children downstairs single file” (p.1, l.1). Discounting this, the reader gets the impression of an observing narrator in the beginning of the story, until we get to know about Mrs. Overton’s feelings, “she was pleased with the day’s proceeds, too pleased to argue over a minor transgression. Anyway, she did not want to discourage a certain degree of compassion, believing it was one of the qualities that made Mrs. Hathaway an effective matron” (p. 2, ll. 26-29). In this example, the narrator uses Mrs. Overton’s point of view. The narrator knows that she is “pleased with the day’s proceeds” and what she is thinking by knowing her opinion about Mrs. Hathaway’s qualities as an effective matron.
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